Images

Coho salmon migrating on the Sol Duc River, Washington to spawning grounds upstream. Fish must leap through a series of small waterfalls called the Salmon Cascades in Olympic National Park to reach the waters where they were born to complete their life cycle by spawning the next generation.

Sampling for European green crab environmental DNA in Pauls Slough in Willapa Bay, Washington, as part of a study that aims to increase the capacity for early detection monitoring and biosurveillance of invasive green crab.

Sampling for European green crab environmental DNA (eDNA) in Pauls Slough in Willapa Bay, Washington, as part of a study that aims to increase the capacity for early detection monitoring and biosurveillance of invasive green crab.

Sampling for European green crab environmental DNA (eDNA) in a tide channel at Tokeland in Willapa Bay, Washington, as part of a study that aims to increase the capacity for early detection monitoring and biosurveillance of invasive green crab.

Field work conducted by the Columbia River Research Laboratory on the Wind River.  The image shows opening day of collecting and PIT tagging juvenile steelhead on a tributary of the Wind River. Ian Jezorek is conducting the PIT tagging and Brad Liedtke is entering the data.

Brian Ekstrom and Lance Downing of USGS are pulling a beach seine to collect juvenile fish for monitoring at a restoration site on the lower Columbia River. The restoration site was created with dredge material in October of 2020 and USGS is monitoring juvenile salmon use, community assemblage, and predator presence.

Sampling drifting invertebrates from a stream in the North Cascades of Washington State. We perform drift sampling to determine the invertebrate prey quality and quantity available for drift feeding fish. Data gathered from this sampling are used in bioenergetics modeling, a method of estimating fish growth potential.

Picture of Cape Alava at sunset.  Cape Alava is a point of land on the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula. The cape is situated within Olympic National Park, and the Makah Indian Reservation.

USGS scientists surgically implanting acoustic transmitters into juvenile Chinook salmon on the Shasta River, California.  Study fish are tracked in the Shasta and Klamath Rivers as they migrate to the Pacific Ocean.  Collected data are used to determine fish survival and migration behaviors.

Photograph of a fish release at the Keller Ferry Marina, Lake Roosevelt, Lincoln County, Washington.

Photo taken from Magnuson boat launch before conducting water quality and light at depth measurements during Landsat-8 overpass windows on Lake Washington for the U.S. Geological Survey. 

To learn more about this project and other related research you can visit the WFRC Ecology Section website.

Photo taken from Magnuson boat launch before conducting a synoptic light survey of Lake Washington for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Lighting from the Kirkland waterfront viewed from the Seattle shoreline.

Photo taken from Magnuson boat launch before conducting a synoptic light survey of Lake Washington for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Western Fisheries Research Center, Center Director, Michael Schmidt, spending time with his dog, Echo, doing their version of outdoor activities “in the backyard” during a peak in COVID cases.

Researchers perform gastric lavage on a rainbow trout to sample its stomach contents. This fish was sampled as a part of a food web study on Ross and Diablo Lakes in Washington State to evaluate fish growth and limitations to production.

USGS boat tied to dock at Ross Lake during a week-long sampling trip for a food web study.  Ross Lake is a large reservoir on the Upper Skagit River in the North Cascade mountains of northern Washington state.

Marshal Hoy, a Biological Science Technician, angling on Ross Lake for Western Fisheries Research Center (WFRC) food web study in October 2021. As a part of this study, fish are sampled for stomach contents, scale samples to assess age and growth, and fin tissue for stable isotopes and genetic analysis.

Researchers stage sampling equipment at the Ross Lake boat ramp and wait for boat to arrive to transport them to camping area. Food web sampling on large lakes requires a substantial amount of sampling gear. Ross Lake is a large reservoir in the North Cascade mountains of northern Washington state.

Ross Lake is a large reservoir in the North Cascade mountains of northern Washington state.  This photo was taken while conducting food web research to support the Skagit River Hydroelectric Dam FERC relicensing process. To learn more about this project and other related research you can visit the WFRC Ecology Section website. 

USGS scientist, Jill Hardiman, working on a screw trap on the White Salmon River to assess anadromous fish recolonization following removal of a large dam.

White River spinedace. Photo taken Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area, Lund, NV.